The Little Winkie
by MistressOfImladris
Summary: Elladan and Elrohir have spent a day looking for something, and yet they can find it nowhere. Worse yet, none of the elders (sorry, their Eldars... couldn't resist the pun )) know what they are seeking. The story is better than the summary, I promise.


**The Little Winkie**

'Naaaanaaaa!'

'Aaaaadaaaa!'

Two strident voices ran through the halls. Their four-year-old identical owners were swaggering down the hallways, calling out at intervals.

The older one, Elladan, stopped, closed his eyes, and drew in a deep breath. His eyes still closed, he began to walk again. 'Naaaanaaaa and Aaaad-oomph!'

Elladan's eyes flew open again. 'Glorfy!' he squealed.

It was indeed Glorfindel. Hearing the twins' calls, he had stepped out of his study just in time to see Elladan – eyes shut – walk towards him, mouth open in a piercing yell. As he watched in amusement, Elladan walked right into his legs.

'Yes, penneth. Why do you want your parents? They are busy, your mother with her sewing, and your father with his paperwork.' Glorfindel swung Elladan up to sit on his hip.

Elladan glanced down at Elrohir, who was preparing to emit an ear-splitting scream to make his displeasure known at having to stay on the ground.

'We have to tell them a secret,' he finally said conspiratorially.

'Oh?' Glorfindel asked, making his blue eyes go wide. 'What is this secret?' As he spoke, Glorfindel crouched down and allowed Elrohir to climb up him.

Each twin leaned towards Glorfindel. 'We have to find the Little Winkie.'

Glorfindel was genuinely confused. 'The little what?'

'The Little Winkie–' Elladan began.

'–is gone!' Elrohir ended.

'Ohhh! I see,' Glorfindel said, not seeing at all.

The twins nodded solemnly.

'That is a serious business,' he continued. 'We must ask your parents.'

'Naaaanaaaa!'

'Aaaadaaaa!'

Celebrían's head appeared outside of a door. 'Darlings, try to keep your voices down. Did you want something?'

Elrohir nodded vigorously.

Elladan, the spokesman of the two, explained: 'The Little Winkie is lost. Glorfindel says we must ask you.'

Celebrian raised questioning eyebrows to the Balrog-slayer, who shrugged equally questioning shoulders back at her.

'Is the Little Winkie a toy?' she guessed.

The twins' faces brightened. They knew the answer to this one! 'No, Nana!' they exclaimed together. Eagerly they awaited their mother's praise. Many times she had told them they were to be very careful around the Little Winkie.

'No? What is it?' Celebrian asked, puzzled.

'Do not be a joke, Nana!' Elrohir said. 'You know what the Little Winkie is. Do not try to trick us!'

Celebrian thought for a moment. 'I will tell you what: you two go find the Little Winkie and when you find it, you bring it to me – very carefully. Alright?'

The twins nodded happily and squirmed to be put down on the floor. Once Glorfindel obliged, they dashed off down the hallway.

Celebrian laughed. 'Do you have any clue what they are speaking of?'

'None whatsoever,' Glorfindel admitted. 'But they are being abominably sweet.'

'Are they not always?' the Lady of Imladris inquired.

'Indeed they are, Celebrian. They are the sweetest tots I've met since your husband and his brother were Elladan and Elrohir's age.'

Meanwhile, Elladan and Elrohir searched the house frantically. The Little Winkie was no where to be found.

Finally after nearly two hours of fruitless search, their chubby little legs aching, the young ones sat down at the end of a passage and cried, hiding their faces in their grimy hands.

'Elladan? Elrohir?' The voice, that of Glorfindel, caused the little ones to look up from their hands.

'What is wrong?' Glorfindel asked, crouching down in front of them.

Elrohir heart-brokenly crawled across the two feet of floor in between them. Climbing onto Glorfindel's lap, he tried to muffle his sobs in Glorfindel's hair.

'Lit-Little Winkie!' he moaned as Elladan joined him.

'We w-want to play with our Little Winkie,' Elladan hiccupped.

Glorfindel's brow furrowed. After so much time had passed, he and Celebrian had supposed that the boys had found what they were looking for. Apparently not. _The twins had said that the Little Winkie was not a toy. But what else could it be?_ 'Did you look in your toy chests?'

'It is not there!' Elladan wailed. 'Not a toy!'

'Go look,' the Balrog-slayer advised. 'You know you keep all kinds of things in your chests.'

The twins obediently pattered off. Not five minutes later, both returned, Elladan crying so hard he was scarlet in the face. Elrohir was walking beside him, attempting to console him by patting his arm.

'Now what has happened?' Glorfindel asked.

'R-Ro threw a wooden boat into my chest, but it broke my jar of slugs and ladybugs!' Elladan sobbed. 'Now they are all lost in the chest, and some are all yucky on the bottom of the boat!'

Elrohir looked up guiltily. 'I did not mean to,' he defended himself. 'I said I was sorry.'

Glorfindel looked heavenward. As he opened his mouth to speak, Elrond came around the corner. He was deeply engrossed in reading a document, and so he heard the twins before he saw them.

'What is wrong, boys?' he asked when he saw their tearful countenances.

'We need help finding the Little Winkie,' Elrohir replied.

Elrond looked confused, then brightened. 'What does the Little Winkie look like?' he asked.

'It is black and pink and red and blue and little,' Elladan answered, sniffing. 'Elrohir broke my jar.'

'Your jar?' Elrond asked.

Elladan nodded, glaring balefully at Elrohir.

'Have you been playing outside in the garden, Elladan?' his father asked.

'No,' Elladan replied.

'You have a slug in your hair,' Elrond announced. Plucking something off the top of Elladan's head, he showed it to the twins.

Elladan burst into loud sobs. (Glorfindel mentally reflected that Elladan had done that a lot today.)

Elrond picked Elladan up. 'What is wrong, penneth? The slug will not hurt you.'

Elladan shook his head. 'My sluggy,' he moaned. 'Sluggy, sluggy, sluggy!'

'Is it yours?' Elrond asked curiously.

'My jar...' Elladan groaned. 'Elrohir broke my jar of inasects! And the Little Winkie is still lost!'

At that moment, Celebrian came walking around a corner at the end of the hall. In her arms she carried the twins' baby sister, Arwen.

Elladan was so busy he did not notice his mother's approach. Elrond glanced at her during a split second's pause in Elladan's lamentations.

Elladan resumed. 'And theeen–'

'WIIIIIIIIIINKIIIIIIIIIE!'

The ear-splitting scream echoed throughout the hallway, causing the elder Elves to wince. The baby woke up and began to cry.

Elrohir leapt for Celebrian, ignoring Arwen's steadily mounting wail.

Elladan had stopped in mid-sentence, and now his mouth was hanging open. With some difficulty, he shut it, but only far enough to say, 'Winkie!'

'Elrohir, you know better than to shout in the house. Now Nana has to try to calm Arwen down,' Celebrian scolded gently.

Elrohir looked up at her with his huge grey eyes. 'Winkie!' He reached up as far as he could and just managed to grasp the edge of Arwen's blanket. Tugging on it, he took a step closer as Celebrian knelt down so he could see his sister.

Wonder filled his eyes. 'My Little Winkie!' he said quietly. He leaned over and kissed the tiny nose. 'Will you not stop crying, Winkie?' he begged. He leaned over and spoke into her ear. 'Rohir be in trouble if Winkie cry. Nana an' Ada tell Rohir, 'Bad boy. Go sit on your bed.' And Rohir will cry hard.'

Sure enough, the wails subsided. By this time, Elladan had been set back on the floor by Elrond and now he was standing beside Elrohir. Absentmindedly, he brushed a ladybug off his arm. He patted Arwen's tiny hand. 'There you is, Winkie,' he said fondly. 'We was looking for you.'

Glorfindel spoke up hesitantly. 'Arwen is the Little Winkie?'

The twins nodded. 'Did you not know?' Elladan asked. 'We call it Arwinkie.'

'Your Winkie?' Glorfindel asked.

'No. _Ar_ winkie,' Elrohir repeated.

'I see,' Glorfindel replied.

'Where was it, Nana?' Elladan asked.

' _She_ was with _her_ nurse, Elladan,' Celebrian answered.

Elrond remembered Arwinkie's description: black, pink, red, blue, and little. His little daughter did vaguely match the colours: black hair, pink dress, red, wrinkled skin, blue eyes, and a tiny little body.

Arwen opened her eyes – she was falling asleep again – and gurgled.

The twins, relieved she had been found, laughed so hard it was not long before Elrohir lost his balance.

 _Thump!_

He landed firmly on the floor.

 _Thump!_

Elladan followed suit.

The Little Winkie snuggled lazily into her mother's arms again and fell fast asleep.

The End


End file.
